Virgin Holdings, Research Paper Example

Virgin Holdings was founded by Richard Branson, and started as a mail order record company back in 1970. Expanding into a record label, the company later ventured into new industries, such as travel, recreation, entertainment, retail, and today the Holdings consists of 200 private companies. (Funding Universe).

Virgin Records and Music

After starting a small record shop in London, Virgin Records expanded rapidly. By 1990/91, the company had a turnover of £350 million (Thomson and Martin, 991). Virgin is still involved in music, such as the V Festival in the United Kingdom, even though it has expanded into retail, holiday, and travel industries.

Virgin Retail

Consisting of game stores, megastores, in 1990-1991 the turnover of the European and Japanese outlets reached £175 million. Outside shareholders included WHSmith and Consortium.

Travel

Consisting of Virgin Holidays, Virgin Atlantic, and currently Virgin Trains in the United Kingdom and Virgin Galactic, the company has recently expanded its travel, holiday, and hotel portfolio.

Product Life Cycle: Virgin Media

For the product life cycle analysis, the author selected Virgin Pure, one of the latest products offered by Virgin Holdings.

The scope of the assessment is to determine whether or not the products’ lifetime benefits (water purifier) are in line with its environmental impact.

Main requirements and inputs: Water, purification process and energy, packaging materials, research, and personnel

Environmental impact: due to the process involved in purifying the water, and the energy consumption, the energy consumption of creating the devices that purify water is high. The environmental impact of the Water Bar T6 and T7 as products is high.

The environmental impact of using the device is limited, due to the low energy consumption of the water purifiers. The disposal environmental impact of the device is high, due to the high content of metal and plastic.

Works Cited

Funding Universe. “Virgin Group History”. n.d. Web.

Harrison, C. L. “Life-cycle assessment: Inventory guidelines and principles.” (1993).  Web.

Thompson, J. and Martin, F. Strategic Management. “Virgin”. 2010. Print.

Virgin Website. n.d. Web. http://www.virgin.com/